Consumer guide: how to choose a health app

When choosing a health app, you will need to think about your needs, health goals, and preferences. Here are some examples:

• Health information and education: Health apps often have educational resources, articles, videos, or tools that can help you learn more about health conditions, treatments, and lifestyle changes. This information may help to make healthier choices and better manage your health.
• Tracking and monitoring: Health apps can help you record your exercise, sleep patterns, nutrition, medication, and vital signs (blood pressure, pulse). By monitoring these over time, you can track health habits which can help you make decisions to improve well-being.
• Goal setting and motivation: Many health apps help you set health goals, such as weight loss, fitness targets, or better sleep quality. These apps can give you recommendations, track your progress, and some have features to help you stay focused and motivated to reaching your goals.
• Consultations and support: Some health apps offer telemedicine or telehealth services, so you can connect with healthcare professionals remotely for advice, diagnosis, or treatment. These apps can help people who have trouble accessing healthcare services or prefer the convenience of online support.
• Community and social support: Many health apps include social interaction and support, such as online communities, forums, or group activities. This sense of community can help to encourage or motivate you which can help you to reach your health goals. Be aware that discussion boards or group chat rooms, where users can share their experiences may not monitored by a health professional so the advice or suggestions may not be safe or effective for you or your condition.

When deciding which app to use, it’s important to know why you need to use the app and which functions you’ll use the most. You can then compare different apps and work out which one is right for you.

The credibility and trustworthiness of a health app is important to think about because you want to choose an app with accurate and reliable health information. Here are some ways you can assess this:

• Source of information: Look for evidence of the sources of information within the app. Information from medical institutions, healthcare professionals, or peer-reviewed studies make them more reliable.
• Professional endorsements: Endorsements or partnerships with healthcare organizations, medical professionals, or academic institutions are more likely to have accurate information and advice.
• Apps that are sponsored by a respected patient group, medical school, university, non-profit healthcare organisation or government agency are more likely to be trustworthy.

Sometimes organisations, companies or individuals may benefit from you using the app, and there may be a risk that the information is biased towards their products, such as a drug company or healthcare company that manufactures medications or products related to the app. If you can't find any information about the publisher of the app, or if it is published by a company that could benefit from you using a particular product, be cautious.

Note: User ratings don’t always reflect an app’s evidence or accuracy.

Usability refers to how simple it is to use the app.

• The app should be clear, with easy-to-understand menus and buttons.
• Users should be given clear instructions on how to use the app's features.
• The layout and design should be consistent to give a clear user experience.

Suitability is how well the app meets the needs of its users, and fulfils its purpose.

• A health app should be suitable for its users. The app should help to support health needs or goals of its users, such as managing chronic conditions, tracking fitness, or providing medical information.
• On some apps the user can personalize the layout, settings, and reminders to suit their preferences and habits.

To measure the usability and suitability of a health app, developers should get feedback from real users to improve the app. Updates based on user feedback helps to improve the health app over time.

Cost of the app and app charges

When choosing a health apps, also check the cost of the app and app charges. App charges may be as a one-off payment or as an ongoing cost. Many apps have advertisements (ads) or in-app purchases. When you use a free app, advertising may be used to cover the costs of developing and maintaining the app. As a result, ads may appear while you are using the app. Sometimes, advertisers may collect data about your usage preferences, and behaviors within the app. This data can then be used to target you with advertisements, even when you are not using the app. . Read more about charges and apps.

New Zealand relevance

Some health apps aren’t suitable, or relevant, for New Zealanders as many are designed overseas and use different guidelines and recommendations. Be aware that other countries may use different measurement systems.

• In New Zealand we use the metric system, eg, kilograms and centimeters, but some countries use the imperial system, eg, pounds and inches.
• On some apps you can choose the measurements you use, but others don’t, which can make it harder to understand.
• New Zealand also uses a different measurement for blood tests such as glucose (sugar) or cholesterol levels. The units can’t easily be converted.

Some health apps collect personal information and have poor security. This means it's not always possible to control who accesses your data, and whether you are informed about your data being accessed.

Privacy of data is important, especially if the app collects data about your medical conditions, treatments, and lifestyle choices. If your personal health data is leaked someone might use it for their own gain.

Although apps may have a privacy policy that says they protect the privacy of your information, they may use that data unencrypted (not coded) and over unsecure network connections. This puts it at risk of being accessed by someone else. Read more about tips to improve your privacy and security when using apps. 

Security and privacy in health apps is important to protect users' sensitive information, and comply with regulatory requirements.

App libraries and independent review websites

A health app library is a collection of apps or online courses designed for mobile devices or computers that focus on health and wellness. These apps can cover fitness tracking, nutrition monitoring, mental health support, medication management, and more.

• Health app libraries can be selected by organizations, such as healthcare providers, or government health agencies.
• They often have a selection of recommended apps that meet certain quality, security and privacy standards.
• Users can browse through the library to find apps that suit their own health needs and goals.
• These libraries might also include reviews, ratings, and resources, to help users choose which apps to download and use.
• Examples of health app libraries include: NZ Health App Library, ORCHA Health App Library(external link), Mindapps(external link) and Mind app library(external link)

Healthcare professionals

Your healthcare provider may recommend health apps that suit your health needs or conditions. They may be able to give advice on which apps match your treatment plan or wellness goals.